Favorite Final Fantasy/Other RPG

[Norm4eva]

I feel like I should mention honorable mention here goes to NETHACK, the hardest fucking dungeon crawler in known existence.  You wish to talk about a game that plans for virtually every contingency, is never the same twice and is simultaneously frustrating as fuck and totally entertaining... NetHack.  I will probably never complete that game in this lifetime, but who cares?

[T00L]

I'm an Earthbound fanboy FYI

[TracerBullet]

Also, no love for Betrayal at Krondor?

[M.Solymossy]

Suikoden 2.  /Thread.

Plz Lock now.  Problem solved.

[Diakonov]

Suikoden 2.  /Thread.

Plz Lock now.  Problem solved.

Fool!  You did not even vote for it!

[Harlequin]

In my book there are two kinds of videogamers:  People who have player FFVII and everyone else.  Its just such an Iconic RPG.  

However, my "favorite" RPG of all time is Disgaea.  I loved FF Tactics, but I felt it was a little one dimensional.  The game started off like impossible, then once you spend a good 2 hours doing Accumulate vrs a chicken - and got a chance to skill up... the game was way too easy.  Cid dual weilding Excalibur & Save the Queen!?

Disgaea is all about leveling, with the same sort of playstyle combat system as FFT.

Disgaea is game where if you play your characters out really well, and put some time into them - you feel invincible!  But then the game will throw you some curveball and you will be kept in check.  With a level limit of 9999 and a damage limit of like 14 billion... there is always a challenge somewhere in the game.

Also the story is "great" in that its not trying to be serious.  Screw finding the princess in the castle, the plot of the game is that you start as the Prince of the Netherworld, awaking to find out your Father (the overlord) has been dead for 2 years.  The first part of the game is spent reastblishing yourself as the overlord.  The game isn't shy when it comes to adult jokes or jokes -about- how silly RPGs are... I mean how can you make "Thursday the Super Robot" the best playable character and keep a straight face!  

Also there is a "Dark assembly" where you have NPCs Vote on things (like better items in the store, or unlock new areas).  One of my favorite thing about the game is that when you "Fail" a vote, you are given the option "Persuade by force" and you are allowed to fight and kill the Assembly in order to pass your bill.  How many times have you been taking to an NPC in other games and though "God damn you!! I'm 10 times your level, what do you mean I 'Can't pass' - screw you! I could kill you easily!!"  Disgaea, lets you vent that frustration.

Currently, I just finished unlocking all the playable class and getting the two side characters.  I have 3 goals left in Disgaea:
- Kill and Item God (and not in some bootleg item, I plan on Arcadia)
- Kill Baal
- Kill Uber Prinny

Then I'm buying a PS3 for Disgaea 3.  ^_^

[TopSecret]

I feel like I should mention honorable mention here goes to NETHACK... I will probably never complete that game in this lifetime, but who cares?

This peaked my interest, so I wiki'd it and found this:

NetHack is largely based on discovering secrets and tricks during gameplay. It can take years for one to become well-versed in them, and even experienced players routinely discover new ones. A number of NetHack fansites and discussion forums offer lists of game secrets known as "spoilers".[24] Fans of NetHack consider an ascension without having read spoilers very prestigious; the achievement is so difficult that some question whether it has been or can be accomplished.

lol This sounds like the most hardcore RPG ever.

[TheBrassMan]

I was spoiled by playing PC rpgs before console games.  Fallout 2 is still my favorite, but there are many others, (like Joblin Velder's aformentioned Torment, a masterpiece).  I really could never understand the love for final fantasy, I always felt like I was on rails, you're unable to make any relevant decisions either as far as plot, or character development (personality wise and mechanically) is concerned.  To this day I'm still disappointed by new games that are released.  While I enjoyed KotR, for instance, it was promoted as a game involving real character development and variety.  When compared to by beloved Fallout, with a wide array of solutions to every problem, and real, specific consequences of your decisions, "Chose Good Choice A or Evil Choice B" just seemed childish in its approach to decision making.  The Fable games disappointed me in a similar fashion, though I still enjoyed them as well.

[DubDub]

Speaking of disappointment, did anyone else make the mistake of buying 'Mass Effect'?  That was a humongous waste of time.  It did have a ton of depth (in the sense that there were endless things to do), but there was no replayability at all, and I never got emotionally invested in the plot/characters.

[Mr. Fantastic]

I'm still currently the only one to have voted for VIII.  FF8 is my favorite, but I can't construct an argument to convince you it's the best.  I'm basically choosing between FF8, FFX, and then some randoms that I played: SaGa Frontier II, Quest 64, etc.

Things I liked:
Good music.
Airships (Gardens, Ragnarok).
Junction system and Guardian Forces.  The Devil, a giant Tank and "Doomtrain"?  Yes please.
Limit Breaks.
The card game ("Triple Triad").
Gunblades.
CGI cutscenes.
Most of the characters.
Fighting a T-Rex, on disc 1.

I'm not going to claim that it's the best, and I'm not going to list the things I didn't like, but FF8 is my favorite.

I completely echo everything you just said.  There are so many things that make VIII such a great game that I'm really surprised it's not in contention for being the heavy favorite of TMD.  I would like to further add that I especially loved how Triple Triad was actually a useful means of acquiring rare items and magic.  Contrast this with FFIX's card game, the rules of which remain unclear to me a full 10 years after its release, which was not only incomprehensible but utterly pointless.  To the best of my knowledge there was zero benefit to playing the game, other than for sake of "enjoyment."

After I killed the Midgar Serpent the first time I saw him without having actively leveled up at any point, I kind of stopped playing single player RPG's.

Cool story bro.

[nataz]

the real question is, what ever happend to Dandan?

[Ozymandias]

My favorite RPG is probably Deus Ex, but that might be a little bit too first person for the discussion. I played FF IV, VI, and VII, but I liked Chrono Trigger better than any of them.

[covetousrat]

Just for your information, for those of you who wants to play those old Snes games or other platforms, you can download an emulator and roms to play. Eg romnation dot net. Final Fantasy series, Chrono Trigger etc

[Vegeta2711]

There are so many things that make VIII such a great game that I'm really surprised it's not in contention for being the heavy favorite of TMD.

Well you know, other than the fact that it may be the worst Final Fantasy (I'm not even counting fucking X-2 or whatever that shit was), it was totally awesome. All of the emo story-telling, one dimensional characters, horrible combat, grindy grind grind-quests and complete lack of plot for the final quarter of the game make for an epic experience for sure.

To this day, FF8 is the only one I haven't bothered finishing.

Anyway, FF6, Chrono Trigger and Super Mario RPG (since fun game is fun) are my tops. Can't stand Fallout anymore even though I loved it when I first played it and I don't count FF Tactics, Front Mission 3 or Disgaea as RPG's so sadly that eliminates all the games I've played the longest.

[Mr. Fantastic]

There are so many things that make VIII such a great game that I'm really surprised it's not in contention for being the heavy favorite of TMD.

Well you know, other than the fact that it may be the worst Final Fantasy (I'm not even counting fucking X-2 or whatever that shit was), it was totally awesome. All of the emo story-telling, one dimensional characters, horrible combat, grindy grind grind-quests and complete lack of plot for the final quarter of the game make for an epic experience for sure.

That's a pretty good description of X; VIII not so much, imo.  But to each their own.

[2nd_lawl]

Shin Megami Tensi: Nocturne is the actual Best RPG.  Its like FF but good instead of boring shit.

[Wagner]

I'll have to agreed with whoever said Lufia 2. That game was awesome. I rented it twice in a row back in the days and then called every video store in town to buy a copy, in vain. The Ancient Dungeon and the very humane characters really push it on. Can't remember a game where 2 main characters fall for the hero and just try to get him without any shenanigans.

A nod to Phantasy Star 4 also, not a fan of the series, it did not have a ton of characters, nor a ton of sidequests, but that was storytelling at its best.

Chrono Trigger gets my second vote, can't wait to play it again on DS.

That sais, I voted for FF6, it remains my champions throughout the years. Great plot, great characters, great music, great villains. Also, I was a HUGE fan of the equipment idea. Unlike most RPG where a character can only equip swords/machine guns/hair pins/etc., in FF6, all caracters had a unique different things. Terra and Celes get the big swords, Edgar gets mediums swords AND spears, Locke gets thief weapons AND medium Swords. Yeah, some other characters are still limited to class weapons, but I found that idea great nonetheless.

[policehq]

You wasted a lot of slots on bad FF games, the only ones that should even be in contention are IV and VI. Don't even bother with the old naming system.

Secret of Mana, Secret of Evermore, Super Mario RPG/Paper Mario RPG (Game Cube) deserve mentions over the others.

[Norm4eva]

Totally forgot.  Legend of Dragoon.  A lot of RPGs quietly owe their lives to the concepts in this game.

[waywreth]

Not sure what kind of game you'd call it, but it is by Squaresoft... Final Fantasy Tactics was one of my favorites.  It had great mechanics and offered a great deal of re-playability, and the story/plot was a political chess game.

[bluemage55]

Baldur's Gate series, anyone?  It's pretty epic to witness the growth of a nobody into a fully-fledged avatar of murder.  Playing on max difficulty is pretty difficult without power leveling or explits, and the storyline is among the best I've seen for any RPG, with plenty of character arcs, side quests, and romances along the way.

Oh, and Boo.  Never forget Boo.

[Norm4eva]

The only Baldur's Gate I've ever played is the hack-and-slashers on PS2, BG: Dark Alliance I and II.  I really really like dungeon crawlers so I put up with the horrible glitches in the two games - you know, like how Armor Class doesn't function in the first one, or how Two-Handed fighting is pretty much >>> all else in the sequel.  Champions of Norrath sort of addresses some of these issues but it has a handful of goofballs of its own.

And I should really mention Legend of Dragoon.  Again.  Talking about some of these more popular RPGs without mentioning Dragoon is sort of like talking about Nirvana without mentioning the Pixies.

[Pitlord]

I'd like to echo Norm in saying that Dragoon was incredible. The battle system was unique and innovative, the plot and characters were solid, and the game was difficult but never made me want to chuck a controller, which is good. Another personal favorite was The Legend Of Legaia, which had an innovative combat system and an interesting story, but was a little on the easy side.
All that said, I did vote for FF III/VI for all of the reasons listed by others.

[Juggernaut GO]

prince bolbuss is a stalling newb.


mtg:the computer game, obv is best ever.

[T00L]

prince bolbuss is a stalling newb.


mtg:the computer game, obv is best ever.

God so good

[Royal Ass.]

Dragon Warrior III for Game Boy Color is the best RPG that I have played.  Took me back to my days of playing DW I on NES.  But I have to add that I've never played a FF game, so perhaps I'm missing out.  Now I feel like I'm too old to play RPGs because of the amount of time they take and the fact that you get nothing in return other than a hollow sense of accomplishment.  I wish I was a kid again...

[Bera]

Dragon Warrior III for Game Boy Color is the best RPG that I have played.  Took me back to my days of playing DW I on NES.  But I have to add that I've never played a FF game, so perhaps I'm missing out.  Now I feel like I'm too old to play RPGs because of the amount of time they take and the fact that you get nothing in return other than a hollow sense of accomplishment.  I wish I was a kid again...

DW 3 was sooo sick.

I'll always have to stick with the Pokemon series (None of that mystery dungeon/stadium crap) for non online RPGs though, they always manage to improve that game with every new release and they keep making new games so you're not stuck carring a GBC around.

Favorite RPG that I wish was online:  Mega Man Battle Network 3, friend battles in that game were sick.

[TracerBullet]

Dragon Warrior III for Game Boy Color is the best RPG that I have played.  Took me back to my days of playing DW I on NES.  But I have to add that I've never played a FF game, so perhaps I'm missing out.  Now I feel like I'm too old to play RPGs because of the amount of time they take and the fact that you get nothing in return other than a hollow sense of accomplishment.  I wish I was a kid again...

DW 3 was sooo sick.

I'll always have to stick with the Pokemon series (None of that mystery dungeon/stadium crap) for non online RPGs though, they always manage to improve that game with every new release and they keep making new games so you're not stuck carring a GBC around.

Favorite RPG that I wish was online:  Mega Man Battle Network 3, friend battles in that game were sick.

You've gotta play it on NES to really feel the game though.  They dramatically altered the art, dialogue, and even some of the music in an attempt to make it more palatable to the anime generation.  Gave the game an entirely different flavor.

[Gexzilla10]

My favorite Final Fantasy is VIII. It has the best storyline, best combat setup, and best summons. VII is alright, but toward the end it gets tedious. A close second to VIII is Super Mario RPG for the SNES. Best Action-RPG ever.

[Zygon]

Earthbound and Daggerfall all day.

Also, Xenogears, FFIII, FFVII, Super Mario RPG, Morrowind.